Muscles, Beck, Dan Deacon, and Brad Neely

Here are some songs with synth and falsetto. Megachild has worked on a synth-pop falsetto song called Disco Wooden Spatula. It has a nice guitar riff and absurd lyrics about dancing to the choice of kitchen utensil.

First up is Sweaty by Muscles. I just discovered this song this morning. I first listened to the Shazam remix version, which is set to a video that highlights the amazing elasticity of the human face.

Link:

As you may have noticed in this cheerleader-chant, bumping fuzz-synth melange, the lyrics are both naughty and saccharine. That combination comes across as simultaneously sexy & grody in that version, but comes off more purely fun and hilarious when sung in harmonious falsetto and doofus voice in the original track, featured in the poor quality video/audio below. A better version of the audio and a more professional review of the song is provided in the link below the video (so if you can sink up the audio in that link with the youtube video, it provides a slightly better listening/watching experience).



Pitchfork review with good audio

The Pitchfork Review mentions Midnite Vultures era Beck. It wasn't something that I thought of at first, but the connection is pretty obvious now. Midnite Vultures was a great album, displaying the fun side of Beck before he got all grown up and serious in his latest albums. I couldn't find a good video for "Get Real Paid", which is the track that is probably most similar to "Sweaty in its bumpin synthedness. But "Nicotine and Gravy has a similar vocal mix with falsetto and droning, esp. coming to fruition at 1:45. The video embedding has been disabled, so just follow the link. Note the Warhol and Japanese Pop influences in both this and "Sweaty" videos.

Beck - Nicotine and Gravy

I love when synth uses cat sounds. Some may say it is overdone, but just like with cowbell, there is always room for more "Kitty Synth". Kitty Synth may have reached its artistic peak in the work of Dan Deacon and his "Crystal Cat". I really don't want to say much more about this, I just want to let the art speak for itself.



I missed seeing Dan Deacon play at the Whitney Museum in NYC last winter, and I am very sad that I missed it. I also realized upon this listen that Dan sings "Gonna get my face on" which I realized is connected (and either descended from, ancestor to, or independently derived) to China, IL, a short animated series by the musically talented absurdist/warped cartoonist/humorist, Brad Neely. The character sings the words, "Gonna get her face on, gonna get her din-din, gonna get her shoe-shoes), let me tell you she was my world".